For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

“Christ … [sent me] to preach the gospel … that the cross of Christ would not be made void” (vs. 17). Now we see clarification when he writes, “[W]e preach Christ crucified.” This is the dividing line between belief and unbelief, true wisdom and true foolishness. Our Lord’s crucifixion is the eternal fulcrum, the pivot point of reality. And the world has got it completely wrong in their pursuit of wisdom apart from Christ!

Nothing is worse in life than to build an edifice on a faulty foundation. To proverbially climb a ladder successfully, only to discover that it is leaning against the wrong wall. Paul attacks the very core of life without Christ, which to the world seems a given, to the degree that the very notion of wisdom and foolishness is challenged and shaken to the core. What he is essentially saying is that no matter how great one’s accomplishments, no matter the wisdom and learning they attain, if a person is wrong about Christ, then their lives are a complete, utter, and foolish failure.

We must distinguish between Jewish and non-Jewish proclivities. The Jews were constantly looking for signs; they were not to be convinced by learned debate or philosophy. Jewish religion was a “revealed” religion, that is, they believed in what was revealed to them, not what they could discover through reason. Ultimately, truth was settled for them by revelation. The revealed promises to Abraham and the Law supernaturally given to Moses were foundational, miraculous events that carried the authority of God. Yet the very sign given to them (the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Christ) did not convince them, but rather revealed their rebellious heart. So the sign became a stumbling block to the Jews, namely, it accentuated their disobedience to God.

Paul also addresses the non-Jews. He calls them Greeks, the usual term he uses for Gentiles, to emphasize the prevailing worldly wisdom of that time period as distinct from Jewish ways of thinking. The Greeks believed that wisdom could be attained through reason and logical debate, and to them the cross seemed like complete and utter foolishness. The great irony and their stumbling block is this: that which is foolishness in the eyes of the world is the very thing God uses powerfully to change lives.

Lord, I hold on firmly to the simple truth of Christ crucified for me.